Social Media Play A Minor Role In Shaping People’s Political Preferences
People share content efficiently, quickly, and in real-time on social media. They post photos, they
also share ideas, and they even communicate through social media. With regard to the social
movement in recent months, social media has been widely used to spread information, share news
and declare stance. In US, social media has become the main source of news online with more than
2.4 billion internet users, nearly 64.5 percent receive breaking news from Facebook, Twitter,
YouTube, Snapchat and Instagram instead of traditional media.(Martin, 2018) Someone worry fake
news may construct people’s political stance while what they see is not the truth. Some worry that
politicians may post fake statistics and gain support in an inappropriate way. In the light of the
above, this essay seeks to analyse and explain why social media actually play a minor role in
shaping people’s political preferences due to the effect of filter bubbles, the comparison to other
factors and the critical thinking of people.
First and foremost, social media only make people believe more and confirm their political stance.
Some point out that social media will spread information with stance. Also, social media has
become the main source of news online and people receive news from social media instead of
traditional media(Martin, 2018). As absolute objectivity does not exist, news media has their own
political stance. While people keep receiving information on certain news media through social
media, which provide a platform for fast communication, it may shape their political preferences.
However, the filter bubbles in social media actually only expose us to the ideas we already agree
with.” In fact, this study found, participants preferred to seek advice from people who held similar
political views, deciding that they must be more competent—despite evidence to the
contrary!”(Lee&Brick&Linden, 2019) Social media send you messages based on your preferences
and people have their preferences before. Therefore, social media do not shape people’s political
preferences but just confirm their belief.
Furthermore, social media is not the main factor to shape people’s political preferences. Some may
argue that social media allow people to communicate with each other and obtain different
information. For instance, they may watch news shared by their friends and talk to people with a
political stance. Hence, shaping their political preferences. However, social media is definitely not
the main factor as it is not as influential as we think. For example, parental factor affects children’s
stance. Teenagers have a reputation for rebellion, but when it comes to politics, their beliefs are

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